Women, children rush for free tickets for Fenerbahçe match

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News | 9/20/2011 12:00:00 AM |

Fenerbahçe’s female fans rushed to grab free tickets for Tuesday night’s Spor Toto Super League game against Manisaspor following a decision last week that only women and children would be allowed entrance due to crowd trouble earlier this summer.

Fenerbahçe’s female fans rushed to grab free tickets for Tuesday night’s Spor Toto Super League game against Manisaspor following a decision last week that only women and children would be allowed entrance due to crowd trouble earlier this summer.

The fans formed lengthy lineups in front of the Fenerium merchandise store at the club’s Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in order to obtain the tickets.

The rush came after the Turkish Football Federation, or TFF, announced last week that it would no longer force teams to play behind closed doors in punishment for crowd trouble but would instead open the stadium doors to women and children under 12 for the fixtures in order to avoid “silent” games and bring “the joy back to football.”

Fenerbahçe was ordered to play two games behind closed doors after fans displayed violent behavior during a match against Shakhtar earlier this summer.

Four games will be played on Wednesday, including Karabükspor vs. Galatasaray, Antalyaspor vs. Mersin İdman Yurdu, Eskişehirspor vs. Gençlerbirliği and Samsunspor vs. Trabzonspor.

Meanwhile, Beşiktaş Chairman Yıldırım Demirören was named the new president of the Clubs’ Union, after the resignation of the jailed Fener chairman Aziz Yıldırım.